Shotgun grenade

ABSTRACT

A grenade comprising a nose, a fuze, a fragmentation cylinder, a tail section and an explosive charge loaded into a standard shotgun shell. The grenade is designed to fly in a stable state and to explode to produce fragments.

nited States P616111 1191 1111 3,820,463

Leonard et al. June 28, 1974 SHOTGUN GRENADE 2,730,046 1/1956 Bergstrom et al. 102/56 x Y 2,780,995 2/1957 Migliaccio 102/56 x [75] Inventors Guy Leonard Chma Lake 2,872,864 2/1959 Barnes et a1. 102/38 Hubert 3 Bethel Island 2,940,391 6/1960 Brandt 102/33 both of Callf- 3.067,685 12/1962 Ludwig 102/38 3,101,053 8/1963 Stevenson et al 102/57 [73] Assgnee' 32 2122 211? ;:g; 3,650,213 3/1972 Abbott et al 102/38 Navy Washmgton Primary Examiner-Samuel Feinberg [22] Filed: Oct. 30, 1972 Assistant Examiner-H. J. Tudor Attorney, Agent, or FirmR. S. Sciascia; Roy Miller" [21] Appl. No.. 303,154

L. E. K. Pohl [52] US. Cl 102/38, 102/57, 102/68 [51] llnt. Cl. F42b 5/02, F42b 9/02 [57] ABS CT [58] Field Of Search 102/56, 57, 3s, 67, 68 A grenade P a nose, a fuze, a fragmematwn cyhnder, a tall sectlon and an exploslve charge loaded 56] References Cited into astandard shotgun shell. The grenade is designed UNITED STATES PATENTS to fly 1n a stable state and to explode to produce fragments. 2,426,239 8/1947 Renner'. 102/38 2,573,362 lO/l951 Rouse 102/38 4 Claims, 2 Drawing Figures SHOTGUN GRENADE BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention This invention relates to grenades. More particularly this invention relates to a grenade which can be loaded into a standard shotgun shell and launched by a stan dard shotgun.

2. Description of the Prior Art Grenades which can be launched by conventional rifles and other small arms are known. These grenades, while they have gained wide spread use in warfare, have a drawback in that they require a launching device which must be attached to the muzzle of the rifle. They also have a drawback in that a special cartridge must be provided to initiate the launch. Still further they are not designed for stable flight.

Shotgun shells have been loaded with slugs which fragment upon impact witha target but, to the best of the inventors knowledge, there is no prior art record of a grenade of the stable flying type described herein having been launched by a shotgun from a shotgun shell.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The present invention resides in a grenade suitable for launching by a standard shotgun from a standard shotgun shell and in a method for launching the grenade. The grenade is designed for stable flight and fragments upon detonation of an explosive charge by a fuze contained therein. The fuze is activated and in turn detonates the explosive charge when the grenade strikes a target.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWING FIG. 1 is an exploded cut away view of a grenade and shotgun shell suitable for use in the practice of this invention.

FIG. 2 is a cross sectional view of a shotgun shell loaded with a grenade according to this invention.

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT Going first to the drawing, FIG. 1 is an exploded, cut away view of grenade and shotgun shell according to this invention prior to assembly. The shotgun shell which may be of any guage compatible with the sizes of the grenade parts is indicated by the numeral 10. The grenade parts include a tail section 11, a fragmentation cylinder 12, a striker pin 13 with an opening 14 drilled through it to accomodate a shear pin 15, a striker guide 16, a detonator 17, an explosive charge 18, and a rifled nose 19. The nose 19 has a reinforcing plate 20 fitted into it in the manner depicted in the drawing. Taken together, the striker pin, shear pin, striker guide and detonator constitute a fuze.

FIG. 2 is a cross sectional view of the grenade .of this invention assembled in a-conventional shotgun shell. The numerals in FIG.2 correspond to the numerals in FIG. 1 and the view is self explanatory. In the assembled view it is clear that a cavity 21 which contains the powder charge of the shotgun shell is formed behind tail section 11 when the grenade is assembled in place in the shell.

In fabricating the grenade a wide variety of choices exists in selecting the materials from which the various parta are made. For example, the tail section 11 may be plastic, the fragmentation l2 cylinder steel, the striker pin 13 steel, the shear pin 15 and nose 19 may be lead and the reinforcing plate 20 stainless steel with a number of well known materials suitable for use in the detonator l7 and explosive charge 18.

When a shotgun containing a shell loaded with a grenade as depicted in FIG. 2 is fired, striker pin 13 is retained in position by shear pin 15 until the grenade actually strikes a target. When a target is struck, shear pin 15 shears and the striker pin 13 activates detonator 17 which, in turn, almost instantaneously detonates explosive charge 18.

The rifled nose 19 and tail section 11 are very important to the invention. The nose l9 imparts spin to the grenade. This spin plus the high drag of the tail section 11 stabilizes the grenade during flight. The tail section 11 also serves as a gas seal.

Tests have shown the grenade of this invention to be very accurate and devastating. When a grenade designated to fit a standard 12 guage shotgun shell was fired from 30 yards at a 1 inch steel plate backed with a 2 inchpin board which was, in turn, further backed with celotex the following happened. A l inch diameter hole was produced in the steel plate. A 1 inch diameter hole was produced in the pine board. The celotex backing was damaged by fragments. And, an aluminum witness cylinder which was arranged concentrically about the point of impact received extensive blast damage.

It should be noted here that a particularly attractive feature of the grenade design shown in the drawing is that its center of gravity is well forward and it is thus very stable in flight. The center of gravity is located just forward of the rear end of the nose portion.

We claim:

1. In a shotgun shell comprising a tube with a closed rear end and a powder charge adjacent to said closed rear end, a shotgun grenade comprising:

a. a housing made up of a nose, a cylinder and a tail section within said tube in front of said powder charge; and

b. an explosive charge and fuze within said housing, said fuze being designed to detonate said explosive charge after the grenade has been fired from said shotgun shell by initiating said powder charge and has struck a target.

2. A shotgun grenade according to claim 1 wherein the nose is rifled to impart spin to the grenade.

3. A shotgun grenade according to claim 2 which includes a fragmentation cylinder within said housing along with said explosive charge and fuze.

l'lOI'. 

1. In a shotgun shell comprising a tube with a closed rear end and a powder charge adjacent to said closed rear end, a shotgun grenade comprising: a. a housing made up of a nose, a cylinder and a tail section within said tube in front of said powder charge; and b. an explosive charge and fuze within said housing, said fuze being designed to detonate said explosive charge after the grenade has been fired from said shotgun shell by initiating said powder charge and has struck a target.
 2. A shotgun grenade according to claim 1 wherein the nose is rifled to impart spin to the grenade.
 3. A shotgun grenade according to claim 2 which includes a fragmentation cylinder within said housing along with said explosive charge and fuze.
 4. A shotgun grenade according to claim 3 wherein said tail section is shaped in a manner that a cavity to contain said powder charge is formed in its rear exterior. 